[rosskesava]

Nearly 5kg of greengages from the tree in the carpark to this block. I don't think they'll get any riper as some were starting to fall off the tree unripe but the few that were ripe - wow. The rest have now been turned into jam. Can't wait to have my toast in the morning.

[Nigel Bolton]

Have picked 28 pounds of blackberries this year, and could have had many more, but needed the freezer space for other things. Huge and succulent, many have now become jam, but added with gooseberries and blackcurrents to boiling water, they make a lovely kompot. Blackberries have retailed at £2 for 150g in my local supermarket, but are now down to a quid. The countryside has been worth its weight in gold this year.

BTW, avoid picking blackberries near busy roads. Because of their geometry, they are very efficient at picking up polutants.

N.

[rosskesava]

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Nigel Bolton - 7/9/2010 00:27

Have picked 28 pounds of blackberries this year, and could have had many more, but needed the freezer space for other things. Huge and succulent, many have now become jam, but added with gooseberries and blackcurrents to boiling water, they make a lovely kompot. Blackberries have retailed at £2 for 150g in my local supermarket, but are now down to a quid. The countryside has been worth its weight in gold this year.

BTW, avoid picking blackberries near busy roads. Because of their geometry, they are very efficient at picking up polutants.

N.

The blackberries around here seemed to getting towards picking time and looking good but during late August, they all shrunk. Last year was a disaster and it all appeared to going fine this year but now they are small and bitter. The elderberries are all going the same way. They are now tiny.

That's a bit worrying about blackberries and car pollution as our favourite spot is in a service station on the M23 (Pease Pottage).

Something else that puzzles me, is why do greengages, which are basically green all the way through, go dark red when made into jam?

 

[rosskesava]

I only noticed today that blackthorn sloes are ripe for picking. I wish I knew of some other use for them other than to add to gin.

[akkan]

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rosskesava - 18/9/2010 19:06

I only noticed today that blackthorn sloes are ripe for picking. I wish I knew of some other use for them other than to add to gin.

Have you had frosts?
Sloes aren't ripe until after the first frost, although you can help them along by freezing them.
You can add them to blackberry jam.

[rosskesava]

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akkan - 18/9/2010 19:15  Have you had frosts? Sloes aren't ripe until after the first frost, although you can help them along by freezing them. You can add them to blackberry jam.

Blimey - I never knew that. I was going by the fact that some were a bit squishy so to speak. I know that rosehips aren't ready untill after the 1st frost but I never knew that applied to sloes aswell.

Cheers

[skanky]

When we lived in Hertford, we had to freeze them, as we had hardly any frosts - none before Christmas. If you waited until the first frost, they'd all gone.
Anyway, we made sloe-grappa, rather than gin. :)